At Dientes, we envision a community where children can focus on school instead of a toothache, adults can make good first impressions and get a job because they have a healthy smile, and seniors can comfortably eat nutritious foods.

We serve publicly insured and uninsured patients of all ages through three clinics in Santa Cruz County and an Outreach Program with multiple locations at schools and community hubs. We offer affordable sliding scale fees for those without insurance. For low-income patients in our community, we are the only provider of dentures, oral surgery, and endodontics (root canals).

In a community where nearly 15 percent of Live Oak Elementary School students are homeless, 15,000 people do not have a doctor, and 78 percent of adults on Medi-Cal do not have a dentist, the need for integrated services is great and the demand far outweighs capacity. Dientes, Santa Cruz Community Health, and MidPen Housing are partnering to create 1500 Capitola Road, a vibrant 3.7-acre health and housing complex in the heart of Live Oak. This crucial first step toward increasing access to healthcare and affordable housing in Santa Cruz County will provide healthcare for up to 10,000 patients, along with affordable housing for 157 people.

We believe that having access to oral healthcare is a social justice issueone that we fight to correct every day. Dientes addresses inequities created by race, ethnicity, language, zip code, income, education, gender, and age by providing access to high quality, affordable oral healthcareso that everyone has the dignity that comes from a healthy smile. We also do this by supporting a diverse workforce and providing opportunities for all races and genders to advance in their careers.

Our primary patient population includes uninsured and publicly insured families, the elderly, the physically and/or developmentally disabled, the homeless, pregnant women and new parents, farm workers and their families, and HIV positive individuals. Approximately 95% of patients are Santa Cruz County residents; 27% of them from South County. 13% of our clients this year lacked any form of dental insurance including public insurance. We are one of very few dental providers in the county serving Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

We also serve a large number of disabled adults and children. We have taken many measures to make our facility completely accessible and welcoming to those with disabilities, including procuring equipment that make positioning easy for every patient and allows ample access for wheelchair patients. In many cases, patients can be treated directly in wheelchairs.

Ms. Marcus started her career in nonprofits in 1997 as part of an HIV/AIDS prevention project in South Africa and became Executive Director of the Human Care Alliance after returning to the United States in 2000. Laura joined Dientes Community Dental Care in 2004 and served as Executive Director from 2006 through 2008. After serving as the Vice President of risk at Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group in Santa Cruz, Laura rejoined Dientes Community Dental Care as Chief Executive Officer in May 2011. A graduate of Leadership Santa Cruz County, she earned a bachelors degree from San Jose State University (a first generation college graduate) and is a fellow of Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business, Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives. She completed her Masters in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley in 2018. Laura currently serves on the board of the Health Improvement Partnership and the Santa Cruz County Chamber. She is a 2013 graduate of Focus Agriculture and a 2015 recipient of the Community Assessment Project Community Hero Award.

Dr. Sepi Taghvaei attended San Jose State University for her undergraduate studies and obtained her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from New York University College of Dentistry in 2009. She completed a one year General Practice Residency at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, CA where she learned the importance of access to care and providing underserved patients with dental care and education as early as possible to ensure a lifetime of great dental health. In 2014, after spending several years in a corporate dentistry environment in a leadership role, Dr. Taghvaei was excited to return to her passion of community dentistry at Dientes. As the co-chair of Oral Health Access Santa Cruz County, Sepi has found great pleasure in leading a multi-partnership effort in improving the oral health of Santa Cruz County residents. Dr. Taghvaei lives in Aptos with her son and their pug, Squirt. They love Santa Cruz and spend their free time exploring all that our beautiful county has to offer.

A marketing professional with over 25 years of experience, Sheree brings a business perspective to the non-profit world in her position as Chief Development Officer. Prior to joining Dientes, she worked at ReSurge International, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County, Oracle, Marine Terminals Corporation and Global Business Access. Sheree also worked in Japan promoting U.S. agricultural products to the Japanese market. She holds a Masters of Business Administration in International Business from The George Washington University and a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from California State University, Fresno. She is a 2007 graduate of Focus Agriculture and a 2018 graduate of Leadership for Community Transformation.

Jesse is a seasoned accounting and financial leader that has worked in the non-profit sector since 2004. Prior to joining Dientes, Jesse was Controller at Salud Para La Gente, an FQHC in Watsonville. He has served in key finance leadership roles including CFO at Janus of Santa Cruz and Director of Finance at Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County.

Laurie has over 20 years of human resources management experience with 11 years in leadership roles. Prior to joining Dientes Community Dental, Laurie held Leadership Operations and HR roles at Kaiser Permanente/The Permanente Medical Group, a leading healthcare provider with over 217,000 employees across the United States. Laurie also served as the Chief HR Officer and Chief Administration Officer at Gardner Family Health Network/Gardner Family Care Corporation, where she was responsible for all aspects of Human Resources including alignment of the HR function and broader employee base with corporate strategy. Laurie holds a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from University of San Francisco and a Master of Business Administration from University of Phoenix, Magna Cum Laude Honors. Laurie is a certified Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma Green Belt from National University.

Medicare (the public health insurance we all get once we turn age 65) still doesnt cover oral health. This leaves our seniors struggling to speak and eat nutritiously. It affects self-confidence and can lead to social isolation. Seniors on fixed incomes cant afford the cost of expensive, private dental insurance or for paying out of pocket.

To create change, we need to heal our society and one way to achieve that is through honest dialogue creating a deeper understanding of our relationship with racism. We invite our staff, board and supporters to join us in this anti-racist fight.